NYC Mayor Adams’ chief of staff Frank Carone confirms he’s resigning, and top deputy Lorraine Grillo likely to follow: sources
Frank Carone, a trusted friend and political confidant to Mayor Adams who has served as his chief of staff since January, is resigning from his City Hall post at the end of the year, he confirmed to the Daily News late Monday.
In another high-profile potential shakeup, Lorraine Grillo, Adams’ first deputy mayor, is likely to step down from her post around the same time, two sources familiar with the matter said. Grillo’s plan to leave is enough of an open secret that administration officials are already prepping Sheena Wright, Adams’ deputy mayor for strategic initiatives, to take over for her, one of the sources said, adding: “It’s not lost on anyone internally.”
Adams spokesman Fabien Levy confirmed Carone’s expected departure, but denied Grillo’s on her way out. “She has no plans to leave at the end of the year, and anyone saying as much is spreading false rumors,” he said.
Frank Carone
Carone, whose exit was first reported by The New York Times, is expected after leaving City Hall to take on a leading role on Adams’ 2025 reelection campaign, the sources said. It was unclear if Grillo has another job lined up.
Walking out from City Hall late Monday, Adams told reporters the plan was all along for Carone to stay on for a year and “set the foundation for me.”
“He did that, and I thank him for his year of commitment,” the mayor said.
Asked who’s going to replace Carone, Adams said he has a “short list” of candidates. “I’m trying to find someone who I know is going to field a lot,” he said.
A power broker in Brooklyn political circles, Carone has been a loyal adviser to Adams for years. He was a key force behind Adams’ 2014 election as Brooklyn borough president, and helped line up institutional support for his successful 2021 mayoral campaign, too.
Grillo, meantime, is a longtime public servant, having served as ex-Mayor Bill de Blasio’s COVID-19 recovery czar, and as commissioner of the Department of Design and Construction before that. As first deputy mayor, she advises Adams on citywide issues and policies.
New York City Mayor Adams (left) holds a cabinet meeting at City Hall in lower Manhattan, New York on Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022. Pictured at right is Frank Carone. (Ed Reed/)
As chief of staff, Carone has been Adams’ right hand in implementing policies across city government, from public safety and business engagement to housing and homelessness.
“I will never be prouder of anything than what we’ve accomplished in the last 18 months,” Carone said in a statement confirming his planned resignation. “From helping the mayor build the best group of public servants in the city’s history to playing a role in navigating us through the most difficult first few months any mayor has seen in decades, this time has been more fulfilling than I could possibly imagine.”
Carone has also attracted a fair amount of controversy.
As first reported by The News in February, Carone was linked via a health care business to a couple of convicted felons and a group of doctors accused of fraud.
The News and other outlets have also uncovered that Carone maintained a sprawling web of controversial clients while working as a lawyer at Brooklyn law firm Abrams Fensterman before joining public service. Among his ex-clients was CORE Services Group, a homeless shelter provider that’s currently under federal investigation over corruption allegations.
Ken Frydman, a veteran political strategist who served as former Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s spokesman in the 1990s, said it’s not unusual for chiefs of staff to “come and go.”
“But Carone’s business interests were clearly conflicted with his government role,” he said. “You can’t have one foot in the private sector and the other in the public sector.”
